March 28, 2006

This Week's University Libraries Update for the Molecular Biosciences

This update is being sent to members of the Depts of BMBB, GCD, Microbiology, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, and Physiology. Anyone is welcome to sign up to receive the update using the form at http://blog.lib.umn.edu/messn006/molbiolibrary/ (near the top right of the page).

New Online Access to 140 Biochemistry Journal Backfiles

The U Libraries recently purchased several online journal backfiles (volumes prior to the start of our online subscriptions) in biochemistry. A package of 140 journal titles from Elsevier were purchased. The titles include Analytical Biochemistry (back to 1960), Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics (back to 1955), Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (back to 1962, depending on the subtitle), Gene (back to 1976), Genomics (back to 1987), Journal of Molecular Biology (back to 1966), and many more. (A complete list of titles in the package is available.)

We hope that this additional access to these titles will be a useful convenience when conducting literature reviews and using the older bioscience literature.

Agricola, CAB Abstracts Databases now on OVID Search Interface

This month the University Libraries switched our access to two bibliographic databases, Agricola and CAB Abstracts, to the OVID web search interface. Many users in the life sciences are familiar with OVID through searching MEDLINE and BIOSIS.

This is an exciting development, particularly for researchers in the plant and agricultural sciences. Agricola and CAB Abstracts are two of the key literature databases in the plant and ag sciences, and having the preponderance of our resources acccessible through one familiar interface has obvious advantages. Notably, the OVID interface allows "metasearching" across several databases at once. So plant scientists may choose to simultaneously search Agricola, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, and MEDLINE, instead of taking the time to conduct separate searches of these individual databases.

To search more than one database in OVID, simply enter any of the OVID databases (e.g., Agricola) through our Indexes list, and click the "Change Database" link at the top of the search screen. On the Choose a database page, select the databases you wish to search, click "Continue," and start your search! (Do note that subject heading searches are not available when searching multiple databases, since the vocabulary systems are different in each database.)

If you'd like some assistance searching with OVID, feel free to contact Kevin Messner, or the Magrath Library reference desk (magrath@umn.edu; 4-1212), or the Bio-Med Library reference desk (medref@umn.edu; 6-3260).

New Bio-Medical Library Web Site

The old Bio-Medical Library website has been recently been retired; please check out our new site at the same URL, http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu! We at the Library are confident that the new site will better provide straightforward access to our services and resources, and better serve your library needs; however, we recognize that transitioning to a new site may initially be a nuisance for those familiar with the old site.

To this end, we have taken several measures to help smooth the transition to the new Bio-Medical Library website:

1. an online survey to gather your suggestions, comments and concerns. We take your suggestions very seriously; please let us know how we are doing.
2. a simple transitional guide (pdf) to help you find items from our old site on our new site.
3. a "Top Ten" List (pdf) of featured items on our new site.
4. We will maintain our old site through the end of the semester here: www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/index.html.

March 16, 2006

This Week’s University Libraries Update for the Molecular Biosciences

This update is being sent to members of the Depts of BMBB, GCD, Microbiology, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, and Physiology. Anyone is welcome to sign up to receive the update using the form at http://blog.lib.umn.edu/messn006/molbiolibrary/ (near the top right of the page).

Register Now for Bioinformatics: Building Bridges Symposium!

The Fifth Annual Bioinformatics: Building Bridges Symposium, to be held on Friday, April 14, 2006 in the Digital Technology Center, 402 Walter Library is an event with world-renown speakers, posters, exhibits, tutorials, demonstrations, and a lunch hosted by the Bioinformatics Graduate Faculty.

It is free, but, since space is limited, advance registration is required. Advance registration will close on Friday, March 24.

We have room for a few more posters. You can submit a poster when you register. If you have already registered but would like to add a poster, or have put your name done for a poster but have not completed it, please email poster information to me. Do this by March 24, so we have time to duplicate it for the symposium handout.

NCBI Powerscripting Workshop

NCBI presents NCBI PowerScripting, a 4-day course including both lectures and computer workshops on effectively using the NCBI E-utilities within scripts to automate search and retrieval operations across the entire suite of Entrez databases.

"Encyclopedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics" now available

By popular request, the U Libraries are now providing access to the Encyclopedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics from Wiley. Online access is available directly at this link: http://www.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wil.cgi?res=eogg, or through the Libraries catalog, MNCAT (do a "browse for" search on the title). I'll also be adding the Encyclopedia to subject-oriented pages such as this page for Molecular Biology.

This on the Encyclopedia from the publisher:

"The focus is on studies based on the human and mouse genomes, but other important model eukaryotes, as well as pathogenic bacteria, are given in-depth coverage. With articles written by established leaders in the field as well as by rising stars, this work will be an essential reference tool for all members of genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics and bioinformatics teams, from students, to post-docs, to senior scientists, and a 'must have' for university and research institute libraries. It will also provide a valuable resource for pharmaceutical and biotech companies that have an interest in this important and rapidly developing field.

"For readers approaching new fields, there is a comprehensive Glossary that explains over 500 terms in a clear and concise way."